


Leave Your Legacy in Gold

by cissues



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series), Fantasy High
Genre: Aged-up Bad Kids, Alcohol, Confessions, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Kiss, Future Fic, M/M, Weddings, background figayda, mid-twenties Bad Kids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:47:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23537839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cissues/pseuds/cissues
Summary: He hears Fabian laugh, sparkling and glittering like the reflection of the sun on the sea and hears in the background as a door closes. Immediately, there’s a quick shuffling and a moment later Fabian’s breathing is far closer to the crystal microphone than it was before, sounding far more manic.“Okay… I need a date very badly, Riz. If I do not seem properly spoken for then that guest list of gay Barbarians will descend upon me like a shark in bloody waters. I love and care for Ragh but literally every one of his friends has come onto me including his lovely fiance and I will not be able to handle an entire day of Barbarian come-ons. Riz, please, I am begging of you.”
Relationships: Ayda Aguefort/Figueroth Faeth, Ragh Barkrock/Original Male Character, Riz Gukgak/Fabian Aramais Seacaster
Comments: 30
Kudos: 298





	Leave Your Legacy in Gold

**Author's Note:**

> **THIS FIC CONTAINS VAGUE SPOILERS FOR THE FINALE BUT NOT A LOT BUT JUST SO YOU KNOW**
> 
> FUCKIN' A DUDE!!!! it has taken me several DAYS to get this shit done... mostly because i actually bothered to edit it and that takes way longer than the actual writing process so WOOF
> 
> anyway: Kirek is a Dwarven Barbarian if you didn't pick that up, everyone is in their mid-twenties, Fig and Ayda got married their Senior year of college, Gorgug and Zelda broke up but they're still friends and Gorgug came out as bi, Kristen and Tracker have broken up and gotten back together so many times and Kristen is having a very hard time with it still, Riz is a demisexual gay man and Adaine is a demiromantic asexual sapphic woman. I can't remember if there's anything else as far as background goes...
> 
> i hope y'all like it!!! if you wanna say hi or see my mad ramblings about fantasy high you can follow me at niteyorb.tumblr.com!! send me PROMPTS
> 
> LOVE YOU
> 
> (title from Andy, You're a Star by The Killers which is a RIZ SONG THRU N THRU BABY)
> 
> edit: i've made a few small edits that i noticed during a cursory read thru that should have been glaringly obvious.... there was a character name misspelling in the first like 3 sentences of the fic. how embarrassing.

The calligraphy on the thick, expensive parchment swirls and glows with a sort of arcane light, enchanted to swim just so in front of the eyes of the reader. Riz squints a little and adjusts his glasses, a smile spreading over his face as he reads the words, 

_You are invited to the blessed union of Ragh Barkrock and Kirek Grumblegut_. 

Ragh and Kirek had been engaged for nearly three years, having proposed to one another over an arm wrestling bet during a Bad Kids reunion party. They’d be dating for four weeks at the time and had been out of their minds drunk, but the nature of Barbarians is that they never back down. This seemed to continue into marriage. Riz places the invitation on his desk and scratches out his barely-legible signature with a flourish. As soon as he does so, the paper disappears with an audible _blip_ and a small shower of prestidigitated confetti sprinkles over his paperwork. A moment later his crystal begins to ring.

" _RIZ GUKGAK! You can make it?_ ” Ragh’s voice thunders into his ear. Riz leans back in his chair, tucking an arm behind his head and laughing.

“Yeah, Ragh, of course, man! I wouldn’t miss it for the world. A gay Barbarian wedding? What a goddamn party, dude, I really don’t know how I’m gonna prepare for this.”

Ragh laughs loud and joyously and the gravelly voice of his fiance calls out in the background, “ _Ye better get stocked up on health potions and rubbers, ye fuckin’ pansy!_ ”

The audible sound of a sharp punch can be heard followed by a few seconds of, in any other context, concerning sounds of a scuffle but Riz only smiles, resting his head in his hand as he waits for the two to finish.

A moment later Ragh’s breathless laughter comes through over the speaker. “ _No, but really, bro. The community out here is insane. I would come packin’ if I were you. In, uh… in more ways than one, if you get what I mean._ ”

Riz chuckles and shakes his head, “I get what you mean, Ragh, thanks. Still not looking for anything but, uh… I’ll keep an open mind.”

“ _Seriously, Riz, there’s a few friends of mine that I think you’d be super into. Just say the word and you got a fuckin’ date, bro. You got, like, five dates._ ”

It’s been several years since Riz had finally come to terms with his sexuality. His dad had been right about the blossoming and in between his Junior and Senior year of college he had a sudden realization that _people could be kind of hot sometimes_ . Then, the realization had turned to _men_ could be kind of hot sometimes. Then… well, after that things started getting a little messier when Fabian had returned from his latest adventure and Riz, with his newly found attraction, realized that maybe _Fabian_ could be kind of hot literally all the damn time. That was at the end of his senior year and he’s been graduated for nearly half a decade. That feeling has never faded. He sees Fabian once every couple of months and every time feels it like a cold shock to his system.

He’d tried with other guys, thinking maybe he just has a _type_ that Fabian happens to fit into. He dated pirates, Half-Elves, full Elves, dancers, anything he could think of that might have made Fabian so entirely desirable, but everything felt dulled until Fabian returned and his nerves were set on fire once again.

“Uh, yeah, I’m good. I, uh… I have someone in mind, actually, now that I think about it.” He finds himself saying and mentally smacks himself. There is _no one_ , and Ragh is one of his closest friends. He can smell the bullshit.

“ _Oh, rad! Did you finally get the guts to ask Fabian out? Hell yeah, dude--_ ”

Riz groans long and loud, leaning back in his chair and covering his eyes with his free hand. “ _No_ , dude, that’s literally _never_ gonna fucking happen and you know it. You guys are even closer than we are. You know he’s straight. I’ll ask… I don’t know, I’ll ask Gorgug or something.”

Ragh lets out a sarcastic laugh. “ _Sure, man. Whatever. Ask Gorgug. Or, you know, let me set you up with any of the fuckin’_ dozens _of totally eligible and interested guys I know so that you’re not a total fuckin’ sad sack at my goddamn wedding._ ”

Rolling his eyes, Riz runs a hand through his hair. “I’m good, Ragh. I promise I won’t bring the mood down with my sad sack antics. I’m really, really happy for you guys. I mean it.”

There’s a small, infinitesimal sniff and Ragh clears his throat. “ _Thanks, man. That means a lot. I can’t wait to watch you fuckin’ pine after Seacaster my whole wedding. Love you, bro. Bye!_ ”

Riz frowns at his now disconnected crystal. Ragh had been one of the few people he talked to about Fabian, mostly because he knew that Ragh would understand what it felt like to be so fucking enamored with a straight guy, but also because Ragh had developed this attuned and intense empathy over years of training as a therapist and was an excellent person to bring him down off of the ledge when it came to matters of the very gay heart.

With a long sigh and a shake of the head to clear his thoughts, Riz returns to the article he’s writing.

He’d originally gone to college to get a degree in Criminal Science, but the work felt… old. He’d been working as a PI all throughout highschool and into college and it was exciting, sure, but at twenty he’d had more experience than some PIs do at thirty, so he took an Investigative Journalism class and fell in love with something new.

Working at a paper from the ground up is, he admits, a little grueling. He and his friends had saved the world a thousand times over, but he still gets stuck with fluff pieces and local news. In a way it feels good to start from the bottom again, put in the work and the hours that he’d done as a middle schooler. Still, every time he gets stuck with preliminary editing duties, he regrets his life choices just a little bit. Just for a moment.

\---

Riz arrives at his apartment later that day. He gets home at around five thirty in the afternoon now and he doesn’t have a case to work on, nor is there ever a life and/or world threatening catastrophe hanging over his head. The first few years of experiencing the calm of post-adventure he had been climbing the walls with boredom. Now, he comes home to a peace he’s learned to appreciate. As he sets his briefcase (the same briefcase of holding he’d had since high school. Turns out that Fabian had gifted him with something more expensive than he’d ever be able to afford again) he gets out his crystal and leans against the wall of his cramped kitchen, typing out a message to The Bad Kids groupchat.

**T.B.: Who RSVP’d to the Barkrock/Grumblegut affair?**

Deep down, Riz understands that it’s unusual to be so close to the people he was friends with in high school, but other people’s high school friends never defeated a dragon together, or experienced a literal Nightmare Forest together. Other people’s high school friends weren’t the Bad Kids and any amount of embarrassment he’d felt post-grad when he’d speak of sleepovers and movie nights with the people he’d known since he was fifteen eventually ebbed away. His friends were fucking rad as hell and the best people he knew.

**St.** 🍎🐝 **: holy fuck i’m so fucking stoked for this… everyone has to make a circle around me while i dance so that tracker doesn’t see me**

**Senator Oracle: You broke up literally six years ago, Kristen. I don’t think she cares anymore.**

**St.** 🍎🐝 **: I CARE ADAINE MAYBE I STILL LOVE HER**

**The Infaethable: no you don’t lol**

**St.** 🍎🐝 **: whatever you guys are the worst**

**Mr. Thistlespring: I’ll dance w you Kristen!**

Riz frowns a little at seeing Gorgug’s message, tapping his claw against the side of his crystal.

**T.B.: Actually, Gorgug… I was gonna ask if you’d be my date.**

**Mr. Thistlespring: I’d be honored Riz! is it ok if I dance with Kristen tho? It sounds like shell need it**

**T.B.: Yeah, of course bud!**

**Captain Hotpants: I was going to ask you the same thing, The Ball.**

Messages keep coming after that, Kristen goading Fabian and Gorgug into a poetry match to win Riz’s affection, something that she’s done before in different capacities and would have made Riz unbelievably embarrassed were he a younger man, but he’s nearly twenty six and Kristen’s shenanigans have long since stopped affecting him.

What froze him was Fabian. Fabian was going to… ask him to be his date to the wedding? Once his heart calms down, Riz understands that he had _also_ just asked one of his friends to go to a wedding with him. Fabian typed like that, sometimes. Too formal, too clipped, not understanding tone over text message. He was probably joking.

He calls Fabian.

Fabian picks up after the first ring.

“ _The_ Ball _!_ ” Fabian says in his deep, throaty, sea salted voice. Since beginning his adventuring on his gifted ship from Garthy (a graduation present, they had said, but Riz thought it seemed more like an investment) the ocean air and likely the ale and cigars and possibly snuff powder - whatever pirates these days snort, Riz isn’t judging - his voice has become gruff and deep and scratchy. He still speaks in the same affected way he had in high school, but something about it sounds more like his father. More mature. More rugged and infinitely sexier.

“Fabian! Hi,” Riz greets and realizes too quickly that he isn’t even sure what he’s calling for.

“ _Riz, hello,"_ Fabian returns, a smile in his voice and Riz can hear the thud of his boots against the wood of the pirate ship. Sometimes, in very desperate and pathetic moments, Riz thinks about what Fabian looked like on his ship. Tall boots and open, flowing shirt. His long, silvery blond dreadlocks whipping around his head as the wind tosses them about where he stands proudly on his bow - or whatever it’s called. He can imagine that now as he tries so hard not to.

“Hi! So… hi! Uh--”

“ _You’ve accepted the invite from our dear friend Ragh, I’ve heard. Gorgug is a lucky man to be taking you!_ ”

Riz breathes in deep and silent, calming his nerves. Part of the problem with “blossoming” after his Junior year of college is that he’s still playing a catch-up game. Part of that is, embarrassingly enough, getting worked up over his crush complimenting him. He wipes at his forehead.

“You, uh… said you were going to ask me? I don’t wanna be rude to Gorgug or anything but he’s like, a single dude who could probably use Ragh’s rolodex of eligible bachelors and bachelorettes in his time of need. Might as well set him free, y’know?”

“ _Aren’t_ you _a single fellow who could use Ragh’s rolodex--_ ”

“I’m… uh-- I’m good. Just really -- uh… focused on the paper. I’m on the grind… or whatever.”

He hears Fabian laugh, sparkling and glittering like the reflection of the sun on the sea and hears in the background as a door closes. Immediately, there’s a quick shuffling and a moment later Fabian’s breathing is far closer to the crystal microphone than it was before, sounding far more manic.

“ _Okay… I need a date very badly, Riz. If I do not seem properly spoken for then that guest list of gay Barbarians will descend upon me like a shark in bloody waters. I love and care for Ragh but literally every one of his friends has come onto me_ including _his lovely fiance and I will not be able to handle an entire day of Barbarian come-ons. Riz, please, I am begging of you._ ”

This sounds more like the Fabian that Riz knows. A critically uncool nervous wreck hiding under a guise of narcissism and effortless coolness. A Fabian that Riz knows he has the special privilege of seeing the most. He can’t even bring himself to be offended at the fact that Fabian is scared of the guests Ragh and Kirek are likely to invite. He has witnessed, first hand, the extremely aggressive flirting tactics of the folks that Ragh has found family in. In any other context, sure, Riz might feel some amount of defensiveness of his community but Barbarians flirt like they fight and a whole party of them is understandably intimidating.

“Don’t you have, like, a harem of mistresses to call on for stuff like this?”

Fabian laughs sarcastically. “ _You can’t be -- no. No, Riz. I don’t think Angel Dust from fucking Leviathin will be enough to thwart Ragekill Axefucker after a few trips to the free bar._ ”

“And I will? I’m sure Angel Dust probably has, like, a hundred pounds on me.”

Fabian huffs another sarcastic-sounding laugh. Something that reminds Riz of his calls with Ragh when he accidentally says something self-deprecating. He’s been getting better, but he still slips.

“ _You have a gun._ ”

Riz laughs when he says, “That I do. Uh, yeah. Sure, I’ll go with you.” And immediately regrets his decision.

There’s an audible sigh of relief.

“ _Thank you, Riz. I mean it. I’ll be wearing full formal regalia. I’ll send you the color palette so that you may match your outfit._ ”

Riz sighs, scrubbing at his face as he contemplates his horrible decision. “I’ll be wearing whatever the fuck I have in my closet, Fabian. I don’t think you understand how much I make at the paper--”

“ _Send me your measurements and I’ll have something sent to you. I will not have us made to look anything less than resplendent. The -- uh, the Barbarians will see right through that._ ” Fabian clears his throat quietly, muffled. “ _The crew and I are landing in Solace in a few days. I believe that Fig is planning something upon my return. I hope you’ll come._ ”

There’s a breath caught in Riz’s throat that feels like nerves. He bites his tongue for a moment and nods.

“Yeah, of course I’ll be there. Obviously I will. And, uh… Fabian?”

“ _Yes, The Ball?_ ”

Riz huffs a laugh at the old nickname. “I’m really glad we’re going together. It’s gonna be way more fun with you there… with me.”

Fabian pauses for a long time, so long that Riz pulls the crystal from his ear to make sure that the connection is still steady.

“ _I’m also glad. It will be fun. I’m very happy for Ragh and Kirek. They’re made for each other._ ”

Riz smiles and he can feel his face heating with a blush and is embarrassed that it’s even there in the first place.

“Yeah, me too. See you soon, Fabian. Love you.”

Another pause, a deep, audible breath.

“ _I_ _’ll be seeing you, Riz. I love you, too._ ”

And then the line goes dead.

Riz is, he knows, completely and utterly fucked.

\---

A few days after the phone call, Riz finds himself at Mordred Manor. Fabian’s party, it turns out, is much more of a to-do then Riz had been expecting. With Fig at the helm of it, he should have known that the guest list would be extensive, longer than strictly necessary and filled out with Fig’s rock star friends and acquaintances. The party had been advertized with the headliner of a “one-time exclusive” reunion of _Fig and the Sig Figs_ (reunions of Fig and Gorgug’s band happens maybe once a year or so and their fans have come to expect it. Still, it tends to garner attention every time). Riz had shown up at the home hours before the party started to help Adaine, Kristen, Aelwyn and Jawbone set up decorations. It’s been years since Adaine, Kristen, or Fig have lived at the Manor but Jawbone kept the place open to gatherings of any kind. As an older man now, he would likely slip off to one of the more remote rooms as the night went on, but seeing his daughters and their best friends reunited under the same roof clearly made him happy.

Hanging up streamers and helping pump balloons, Riz couldn’t help the butterflies that would not leave his stomach at the knowledge that he would be seeing Fabian again in only mere hours. He glances over at Adaine who is patiently showing Aelwyn how to use the balloon pump, feeling guilty at the pang of resentment that he still held for Adaine’s older sister.

There was a brief moment, after Sophomore year where Aelwyn and Fabian attempted something of a relationship. Riz, at the moment fully removed from the idea of sex and intimacy of the romantic kind, was devastated to find that Fabian favored nights alone with Aelwyn to hang-outs with his friends. He’d had an extremely bad time during those few weeks, thinking about the Nightmare Forest that had shown him this exact future. He hadn’t known how in love with Fabian he was when he was fifteen, but the feeling of neglect was the same. They’d broken up not even six weeks later, claiming that their relationship had been fun but far too toxic to continue. A few weeks after that Aelwyn joined the Other Church of St. Applebees (an alternative name that they had given to the queer members of the Bad Kids - namely, most of them). Since then, Aelwyn has been attending therapy and working on her own internalized bullshit; making amends when needed and coming out to each and every one of the party when she saw fit. She teaches classes at Aguefort now in addition to being the teacher supervisor of the LGBT Alliance at Aguefort. She’s come a long way and is trying extremely hard to be a good person, but Riz never… he never fully trusted her and thinks that he probably never will.

“He’ll be here in half an hour, kiddos! Batten down those hatches!”

Jawbone’s voice had always been comforting and Riz grins when he hears it, finishing sticking the end of a banner to the crowning of an entryway. As he climbs down from the step stool, Adaine is there, arms crossed and pleased look on her face.

“I heard that you’re going with Fabian to the wedding.”

Riz’s has the decency of averting his eyes as his ears and face begin to burn.

“Uh, yeah. He asked me. I said yes.”

Adaine’s eyebrow jumps and the light reflects off of the ring she’d gotten it pierced with a few years back. Who ever said it was too late for rebellion.

“ _He_ asked _you_?” She sounds incredulous and conspiratorial and Riz absolutely hates her tone. 

Adaine is one of the only other people besides Ragh that he’d talked about Fabian to. Fig felt too risky - she’s a blabbermouth and loves gossip - and Kristen was a completely different kind of risk - her answer to most things is to _just ask_ and her crass attitude does not lend well to Riz’s particular brand of sexual awakening. Adaine, however, has always been on the same page as him. Neither of them understood the appeal of romance and sex in highschool and college, and then when Riz realized that maybe he was interested in a little bit of romance, Adaine had smiled and put a hand on his cheek and said ‘ _I am so happy for you_ ’. She never expressed the same for herself and even years later the only relationship she’d ever been in was one that lasted a year and seemed tumultuous at best. She’d expressed to Riz once that it wasn’t that she didn’t _want_ romance, it was just that her standard for what that meant was so specific that almost no one fit. He’d told her that she’d find someone someday and she said that she didn’t particularly care if she did. Since then - and before, if he’s being honest, she’s been his biggest confidant in his lamentations about Fabian. She understands, at least, that his feelings for Fabian stemmed - more than anything, perhaps - in the roots of their friendship. She understood that he couldn’t go to the bar and just “get fucked” whenever he needed to “unwind”. She understood that, no matter how hard he tried, his feelings for Fabian wouldn’t fade unless their friendship, too, was dissolved and that those connections, for him, were one in the same now.

“ _Yes,_ he asked me because he was afraid of being hit on by gay Barbarians. Because I have a gun.”

Adaine does not look impressed.

“Riz… anyone can get a gun…”

“Yeah, but I’m… I’m _really_ good at using my gun…”

Adaine rolls her eyes and does a little twirl. “If I were you,” she says in that voice that implies that she Knows something that only an Oracle might, “I would keep that gun of yours cocked.”

Riz wrinkles his nose and frowns at her.

“I really hate it when you’re vague.”

She smiles at him mysteriously and bounds away to help her sister unfurl a roll of paper streamers.

\---

The house looks amazing.

For what they could afford. It’s decorated to the nines with a stage set up in the livingroom for Fig and the Sig Figs to perform and all of Fabian’s favorite alcohol and food set out on a table for the taking. The rest of the Bad Kids are there already, the daughters of Jawbone and Fig and Ayda and Riz and Gorgug and Ragh and Kirek. Kirek is holding an entire bottle of Dwarvish whiskey and Ragh is glowing in his presence. A few more guests from highschool come - the Maidens and Torek and Hargis and Ficus - and eventually the house feels full and warm.

Fabian enters the home and feigns surprise as the chords to _Burn Towns Get Money_ begin. He looks, as always, roguishly handsome and ever more the adventurer that he is. His hair has grown longer and is coiled atop his head, a bandana holding back any stray hairs and shorter locs. He’s wearing his casual pirate clothes, a pair of tight black pants and a flowing, thin white shirt and he looks every bit of Riz’s pirate fantasy.

Riz takes a long sip of his wine.

Long ago he found that he is a weepy drunk. With some experimentation throughout college he’s discovered that Dwarvish whiskey tends to make him quiet and melancholy, Orcish vodka makes him irritable and angry, Halfling gin makes him desperate and pathetic, Human-made ale make him brash and prone to bursts of emotion, but Elvish wine makes him calm and empathetic. So he drinks wine and he empathizes.

“Oh _ho_ , isn’t this something!” Fabian shouts over the music as he hugs his friends in turn. When he sees Riz, still in his t-shirt and shorts from the party preparation, he falters somewhat. On his second glass of wine, Riz’s insight is at a disadvantage and he just smiles and opens his arms to Fabian’s warm and kind embrace.

\---

The party is a hit.

There’s plenty of people there but Riz finds that he, surprisingly, recognizes many of them. Ragh and Kirek have to be talked down several times due to rowdiness, which finds them in a corner with Jawbone, both so serious and silently crying as they hold each other’s hands tightly. Kristen is actively searching out and then avoiding Tracker when she sees her and Riz rolls his eyes as he notices her watching Tracker dance with an Elven woman. Adaine, who has long since moved on from her abstinence from alcohol, has a twin glass of wine in her hand and he raises his own in a cheers whenever he sees her. Gorgug and Fig rock a beautiful, well-practiced show and Ayda comes on stage at some point to sing the lyrics to the songs with Fig, dancing with her wife during the interludes and looking so free and full of absolute love.

Fabian… Fabian is standing against the wall. He’s watching with a kind smile on his face, but any time someone approaches him he politely ends the conversation and has them move on. Riz has been watching him from afar, making sure he’s okay and having a good time. At first he happily accepted all of the praise and accolades of his most recent adventure, but as the night went on he planted himself as far away from the crowd as possible and _watched_.

After several more glasses of wine, Riz breathes in deep and approaches.

“How’re you liking the party?” Riz asks, noticing that his voice is only a little slurred from the wine.

Fabian looks over at him and smiles brilliantly. He lifts his mug of beer and winks and Riz tries _very_ hard not to react to that but he feels himself beginning to blush.

“It’s fantastic. Trust Fig to throw an absolute rager on such short notice. I am truly impressed.”

Riz smiles and leans in, pointing at one of the banners.

“I, uh… I hung that one.” He says with a sort of pride that he would not have had a few glasses of wine ago.

Fabian looks at him, though, with a fondness that feels too much in his hyper-empathetic state that he has to physically turn his body away, looking back over at the stage where Fig and the band is wrapping up their set.

“She sure is something,” he says, “she missed her step-brother a lot.”

Riz looks over his shoulder to watch as Fabian’s face falls a little.

“I do miss you all dearly,” he says after a moment, “sometimes I wish I’d just gone to college like the rest of you. Done something normal.”

Riz turns back, shaking his head and frowning. He doesn’t like this melancholy Fabian.

“No, you did what you went to school for, Fabian. You’re adventuring, using your skills. You’re the only one who did it right, I think. We’re all… we’re all working through this real life experience thing. The newspaper, Adaine’s campaign, Gorgug’s teaching… we’re all starting from the ground up… you’re the only one - besides Fig maybe… and Kristen now that I think about it - who’s actually using what we learned. I think that’s… I think that’s great.”

Fabian frowns and looks out at the sea of people.

“I feel like I’m cheating,” he says, quietly so that Riz almost doesn’t hear him.

“I’m just doing what I was expected to do from the start, what I trained to do. Do you know how many times I--” Fabian frowns, looking into his mug, “-- the Nightmare Forest is nothing compared to what I’ve done since then. Sometimes I wish I could just… I don’t know,” he takes a long sip and Riz does the same, “sometimes I wish I’d done something else.”

Riz tilts his head, leaning in closer.

“What do you wish you’d done?” He asks.

Fabian looks at him, wide-eyed and open, gaze flickering occasionally to Riz’s lips in a way that makes his heart pound. Fabian leans in just a little too close as he opens his mouth to answer, his breath fogging Riz’s glasses.

“I--”

“ _Captain Fabian Aramais Seacaster, get your scrawny pirate ass to the stage right this instant!_ ”

The moment fades as Fabian steels himself and a huge grin spreads over his face, laughing in a way that hits Riz deep in his stomach and instantly making him feel queasy. Had he just been… fucking with Riz? Pretending like maybe something more was happening, but it was just another game? Fabian spins and marches onto the stage, gesturing to the people who applaud him. Riz watches as Fig surrounds him in presitigidated golden light that reflects off of his dark skin beautifully. He basks in the applause and the rounds of praise passed around through a microphone. At the end, a beautiful Aasimar woman climbs onto the stage, leaning into Fabian’s space and kissing him deeply. Fabian dips her low to the stage floor and the crowd roars with delight. Riz fails the insight check that would have shown him the look of panic on Fabian’s face and how quickly he moves out of her embrace afterwards. As he turns and feels himself begin to fall into that anxiety spiral, unable to look at the stage anymore, he misses how Gorgug puts himself into the woman’s space, instructing her to leave. How Fabian’s hands shake when he climbs off of the stage and how he disappears into the kitchen followed closely by Adaine and Fig.

Maybe it was the wine in his system, maybe it was the rush of feeling he got from seeing Fabian again after so long, maybe it was the reminder that, despite that feeling, Fabian will always leave in favor of women and praise and affection from anyone else but Riz, but Riz can feel tears gather and he ducks into the shadows. He swipes a bottle of wine from the table and hurries from the party feeling as small as he did in high school. Fabian would never consider Riz the same way he considers the women who fall at his feet as soon as he hits dry land.

He will always be the sidekick, the adoring devotee, the _Goblin._

\---

Riz awakens in his bed the next day. His mouth feels scummy and his head swims. He can’t hold his alcohol like he used to, balling his eyes out in Holly Hill and fighting a Nightmare Forest the day after. He stumbles to his bathroom, splashing water on his face before drinking a whole glass full of it and shoving his glasses onto his face to stop everything from being so fuzzy. He brushes his teeth and skulks into his kitchen to eat whatever feels appetizing.

Half way through making himself a fried egg on toast, he feels the undeniable crackle of Dimension Door based arcane energy somewhere behind him and hangs his head.

“Whatever embarrassing shit I did, I’m sorry,” he says preemptively, flipping his egg and refusing to acknowledge the onslaught of guilt and shame that crawls into him.

Adaine leans against his counter and into his line of sight.

“You left,” she says, eyebrows drawn. He looks up at her, frowning.

“I got too drunk and had to go. I was tired.” He says in way of explanation as he turns off the stove and aims a defiant cross of the arms in her direction. He’s only wearing a tank top and his underwear so he hopes it comes across like he intends. She seems unimpressed.

“I was with Fabian all night.” She says, eyes narrowed. “That should have been you. That’s your job.”

Riz’s arms drop, eyebrows and eyes pinched. He turns back to his egg and slides it carefully onto dry toast.

“It’s not anyone’s job anymore. Shouldn’t whatever woman he decides to sleep with be doing that?”

Adaine groans long and loud, following him into the makeshift dining room - a card table and some fold-out chairs just to the side of the stove.

“After Fig’s speech he drank his weight in ale and kept asking for you, but you’d gone.”

She sits herself beside him in one of the two chairs set at the table and folds her arms onto it.

“He kept saying that he’d meant to tell you something, Riz. He wanted you there.”

Riz takes a bite of his toast and schools his features.

“I’m not his fucking sidekick anymore. If he wants to come onto land and get upset that he doesn’t have a willing shoulder to cry on then that’s his problem.” He says through his toast, though he’s not sure why it feels so much like that’s what is happening. Riz hasn’t been his “sidekick” since their Freshman year. Ever since the Nightmare Forest their relationship had shifted and changed and suddenly Riz was just another friend, not a sparring partner or someone to fuss over Fabian. He never knew how to fit himself back into Fabian’s life the way he had been after that and it’s always been a sore spot.

Adaine hangs her head.

“Riz,” she says, her voice muffled by her arms, “I think you’re being intentionally obtuse at this point.”

There’s a shiver that runs through Riz and he takes another bite to finish his toast.

“I have literally no idea what you’re talking about. Not all of us are all-knowing Oracles, Adaine. You can’t just say stuff and expect that we’ll get it. Sometimes you have to be, like, a regular person.”

Adaine lifts her head, visibly hurt. Riz does not look her in the eyes.

“I want you to know that I’m trying to help you, against all of my instincts, and that you’re being very rude.”

Riz rolls his eyes. “Like you would know,” he mumbles as he stabs his mostly-done eggs. Adaine gasps and then, in a flurry of arcane shimmers and wind, she’s gone. His face screws up as what is surely the lingering weepiness of the previous night makes him shed a few tears.

_She was just trying to help_ , he tells himself. _She knows something that you don’t and she’s trying to steer you into the discovery, like before._

But the truth is that he’s hungover and upset and his nerves feel so raw from where Fabian had ignited them the night before and he doesn’t need someone to tell him why he’s wrong right now. He just needs to finish his eggs and watch some of his crime shows and forget about fucking Fabian Aramais Seacaster for just a fleeting, blissful moment.

\---

The wedding is in three days. Adaine hasn’t spoken to him since the day after the party and Kristen, Fig and Gorgug are getting worried. Fabian has also not spoken to him but what else is new after months of adventure. Why would Fabian talk to him, even if they were in the same town, only minutes away from one another?

Riz fumbles with his keys and drops them to the ground next to his car.

Another hand picks them up and spins them, expertly, on a Hellish red fingertip.

“Apologize to Adaine,” Fig says and her voice has a tone to it that Riz feels obligated to follow.

“Don’t try to use fucking Suggestion on me, Fig,” he says, snatching his keys back with an absurdly high dexterity save. She counters with an athletics check to pin him to the side of his car.

“You weren’t there, Riz,” she says and she sounds _dangerous_ in a way that Fig hasn’t sounded in years.

He screws up his nose and tries to get out of her grasp but she wins the strength contest again.

“Fabian wanted you there and you weren’t. Adaine stayed with him but he needed _you_ after what happened on stage. That’s _your_ fucking job, Gukgak.”

Riz tries again and fails. His contest rolls are always so low.

“Why is it my job? When did it become my fucking job to take care of a manchild who doesn’t know how to take care of himself?” He asks, voice full of a rage he isn’t sure why he feels.

“Because you love him, you fucking dolt!”

Riz stares at her and she stares back, releasing him out of what he understands is pity. He moves to get into his car and she saves _again_ on a dexterity roll to close it.

“No one told me, if you’re afraid of that,” she says, “it’s just way too fuckin’ obvious if you pay attention. You’ve been by his side since Freshman year, Riz. What’s changed?”

Riz slams a fist into his door and receives four damage for the effort.

“I don’t want to be his fucking sidekick anymore.” He says and his voice is sharp and venomous. Fig’s eyebrows raise and she backs away a few inches. These are inches he knows he could use to get into his car and drive away but she’s opened floodgates.

“Yeah, I might be-- I might… I’m in love with Fabian. Sure, that’s old fucking news, Fig. I’ve accepted it. I just don’t want to be there for him after every breakup with some random woman. I’m not his emotional support Goblin. I’m a fucking person with feelings. I’m sorry that you guys had to be his shoulder to cry on for a night. Welcome to my whole fucking friendship with Fabian. Sorry I couldn’t deal with being there for fucking once. We’re supposed to be an adventuring party. We’re supposed to support each other. It’s not just my responsibility to make sure that he--” Riz takes in a shuddering breath, “that he’s okay and ready for his next adventure where he’ll fuck whatever princess or maiden or whore or whatever the fuck he finds at the end of his voyages. I can’t… I can’t do it anymore. I can’t…”

Riz cries.

Fig is there and Fig is, for all that she is imposing, a source of comfort for him and so he collapses into her, sobbing. She wraps her arms around him and, after a few moments, ushers him into his own car.

She drives him to Basrar’s.

After a few minutes of shuddering breathes and sips at a root beer float, Riz nods.

“I get that what I just did is childish--”

Fig shakes her head, taking a bite of her ice cream, contemplative.

After a moment she looks at him and asks, “do you know what I did when Ayda and I first broke up?”

Riz frowns and shakes his head. After Sophomore year the Bad Kids had a long period of Doing Their Own Thing, including Fig and Gorgug going on another tour, this time with Ayda in toe. At some point during that time Fig and Ayda had broken up and Fig wouldn’t tell anyone what happened. They got back together in college and got married not long after that, but the break period had always been a mystery to Riz.

“She told me that I was too young to understand the feelings that she had for me and she left. Told me she’d come back in five years when I’d grown up. I didn’t stop playing shows, but I drank a lot and I was a real piece of shit to Gorgug. He’ll tell you the same thing. He was the one that told me that I needed to get my shit together.”

Riz starts to shake his head, “I’m not sure what this has to do with me--”

Fig holds up her hand.

“After Gorgug let me know that I was being an asshole to my friends, I realized that I had been idealizing this thing with Ayda and not seeing that my friends were still there. When Ayda left it felt like everyone left.”

Riz shakes his head again, “Fabian never left… not like that--”

“Riz, if you interrupt me again I’m going to fireball you,” she says seriously and Riz quiets.

“When you decide that someone isn’t worthy of you romantically, it’s real fuckin’ easy to think that no one wants you at all. There’s this urge to start from scratch. When you _decide_ , Riz Gukgak, that someone doesn’t want you it makes you think that no one wants you. Ever. In any capacity. Do you get what I’m saying?”

Riz takes a long sip of his root beer float and thinks for a moment.

“You are all my best friends, including Fabian, and just because he treats me like a fucking hireling doesn’t mean that all of my friends feel that way about me,” he says, slowly so that Fig can interrupt him like she does and correct him.

“A hireling--” Fig looks disbelievingly at Riz and for a moment he thinks she’s going to cast a spell or do something dire but she just groans, loud and long towards the sky, and gestures openly at him with both palms to the sky.

“Do you honestly not see it?”

Riz’s brows pinch and he shakes his head.

Fig looks again to the sky and mutters something that he picks up as, “Cassandra and all of my followers below forgive me,” before she looks up at him.

“Fabian likes you.”

Riz waits for her to continue but she doesn’t and he frowns.

“Okay, I like Fabian. I like all of you guys--”

“No, Riz. Fabian _likes_ you. _Like_ likes you.” She says and... he laughs. Full on, surprised to laugh, _laughs_ , belly and all. The words sting and he can feel them prick uncomfortably against his insides. Is this what Adaine was trying to tell him the other day? His head hurts suddenly and he shakes it, looking frenzied.

It isn’t true. It’s not. He’s seen Fabian talk to women and he can see Fabian talking to him and it’s _different_ and Fabian is _straight_ and Riz is _Riz_. Riz is just a little Goblin man working up the ladder at a local fucking newspaper and Fabian is the captain of a pirate ship. It’s not _true_ and the hurt at Fig trying to convince him otherwise in some sort of sick game his friends seems to be playing on him nestles deep in him and makes him feel _putrid_.

“ _Cool_ , I’m glad that you guys are all so invested in Fabian’s health and well being but it’s actually _probably_ a hate crime for you to use my feelings for him to fucking _manipulate_ me into taking care of him. I’m sorry that taking a little time for myself after a _truly_ terrible night has been interpreted as a personal slight against you guys. And I am _especially_ sorry that my closest friends in the world don’t seem to give a shit about _me_ and how _I’m_ doing when _perfect, handsome, brave_ Captain Seacaster sheds a single tear and calls upon his servants!”

Fig looks at him, confused and upset, and gets up to leave. Before she exits the shop she uses Mage Hand to smack him across the face.

_Great_ , thanks girls!

\---

Riz receives his suit for the wedding.

It’s delivered to him in a shiny white box by a Halfling in a tailcoat who bows at him at delivery. Riz takes it with a mirrored bow and the Halfling shuffles away uncomfortably as Riz shuts his door.

The suit is, as he expected it to be, absolutely fucking perfect.

It fits him like a glove. The cornflower blue button down is hand embroidered with just off-color sea creatures, also embroidered on his tie. His midnight blue suit jacket hits his shoulders in a way that none of his other suits have managed to do, making him look broader and more debonair. More like his father, he thinks absently. The pants have a stripe down the side in the same blue as his shirt that matches, also, the accents in his brogues. Fabian really pulled out all the stops and Riz feels guilty that he hasn’t reached out to Fabian since the party. 

Not that Fabian necessarily reached out to him, either.

He knows he’s being childish and he knows he should apologize to his friends and he _knows_ , but part of him thinks that he sort of deserves a little bit of a meltdown right now. Being friends with emotional, dramatic people means that he could never seem to find space to be openly upset, or throw a little bit of a tantrum. He just quietly stood beside his friends and patted their backs or held their hands as they cried or cursed or shouted in whatever capacity they needed. It’s his turn now.

Except it doesn’t feel as good as he thought.

He presses his palms against his forehead as he looks at himself in the mirror. _I can’t believe I was rude to Adaine. I can’t believe I yelled at Fig… what the fuck is wrong with me?_ Groaning in frustration, loud and unbridled in the silence of his own home.

“What the fuck is wrong with me…” he mumbles at his reflection. His reflection says nothing and he sighs, snatching his crystal from on top of the dresser, tapping his fancy shoe against the floor. He chews on his lip as he looks at the group text, currently talking about last minute wedding gift ideas, and types for a moment. He looks at the words, hums, and then deletes them, trying again.

On his third attempt to write out a proper apology to his friends, he’s interrupted by a knock on his front door. He frowns and tucks his crystal into the pocket of the slacks, going to answer the door.

His adventuring party stares back at him in varying states of visible irritation. Adaine has her arms crossed over her chest, eyebrows knitted and a war of concern and anger clear on her face. Fig looks about ready to clock him over the head, tapping her toe impatiently on the ground. Kristen seems tired and confused and upset while Gorgug just looks confused. Fabian, though… Fabian is holding himself tight and small to himself, not looking up and not making eye contact and Riz’s heart hurts to see it. They all push into his apartment, Fig perhaps a little more aggressively than purely necessary, and he watches Fabian glance up, catch sight of the suit, and his face melts into something like shock as he is ushered past Riz and into the livingroom.

“You have some fucking explaining to do, Gukgak,” Fig says as a few of them flop onto his couch and the rest perch on various surfaces.

Riz sighs, pushing his fingers through his hair as he averts his gaze heavenward in a silent prayer.

“I know,” he says after a moment, deflating. Fig quirks one eyebrow and he gestures wildly for a moment as his eyes flicker to Fabian who has not stopped staring at him.

“I don’t know, guys. I just… some stuff came up recently and I-- I think this wedding shit has been getting to me and I took it out on all of you and that’s not okay. It’s not okay to yell at you or ignore you. I just-- I just needed a moment to, like, process stuff and everything you guys were saying was making it harder. I’m sorry, I know I was being immature and shitty. I’m sorry. I really am.”

He keeps glancing at Fabian as the staring continues and he isn’t sure what to do with that. He clocks Kristen rolling perception and his heart squeezes in panic as she glances from Fabian and then back at Riz.

“What were you processing, Riz? What’s going on?” She asks, eyes narrowing a little as she watches him crumble a little more into anxious habits - wringing his hands, shifting and curling his body to make himself look smaller.

He gestures vaguely, trying not to look at Fabian again and failing. He can’t _do this_ right now. He can’t _deal_ with his friends sticking their noses in some of the only secrets he’s actively tried to keep from them.

“It’s kinda personal, Kristen. I’m not-- I’m not super comfortable talking about it--”

“Because Fabian’s been processing some stuff too, y’know. Maybe you guys can process… together.” She interrupts him and her expression turns defiant. Riz is distracted from arguing by Fabian’s voice, small and betrayed, breathing a broken, “ _Kristen_.”

Kristen whips around to look at him, righteous in her anger. “You _started_ this whole fucking thing, Fabian! I get you’re, like, _going through it_ right now but I have been watching you two for _years_ . It was cute at first but now it’s just ridiculous. We’re in our _twenties_. This isn’t fucking high school anymore. You guys need to figure out your shit before I figure it out for you.”

Fabian looks absolutely dismayed as Kristen jumps to her feet. “I have to go. I’m over this.”

She turns to look at Riz, face softening a little. “I forgive you, dude. I get it. Just… just get your shit together.” She reaches down to ruffle his hair and he swats at her, a mixture of fondness and lingering irritation.

Adaine closes her eyes and exhales. “I have to agree with Kristen.” She says, opening her eyes and aiming a sharp glare at Riz. “I’m getting extremely tired of this dance. I have done literally everything I can to help the situation. You’re on your own now, boys.”

One by one the rest of the party gets up to leave. As Gorgug passes by Riz he places a gentle hand on his shoulder, eyes sparkling with a mischief that Riz hasn’t seen in some time. “You look great in the suit, by the way,” he whispers in Riz’s ear. Riz smiles kindly at him, placing a hand over Gorgug’s as he walks away. Fig leans over to whisper something in Fabian’s ear as well, which only seems to make Fabian blush from the tips of his ears to the back of his neck. As she passes Riz she gives him a gentle punch on the shoulder and a wink and Riz can feel the bardic inspiration settle in his stomach.

When his front door closes, Riz looks over to see Fabian still sitting on the arm of the couch, closely inspecting his nails and trying to ignore Riz’s gaze.

“Hey, Fabian,” Riz says, cautiously approaching his friend. Fabian frowns, sighs a little, and looks up at Riz. “Hi,” he says, voice quiet. Riz tucks himself on the other end of the couch, patting the cushions to indicate to Fabian that he can sit like a normal person. Fabian only rotates on the arm so that he’s facing Riz and refuses to move otherwise.

“Uh, so… what the fuck was all that?” Riz asks after a moment. Fabian presses a palm to his eye and shakes his head. Riz can hear him swallowing past a lump in his throat.

“The girls… a-and Gorgug have, uh… they’ve been talking to me these last few days. About… about--” he frowns at the cushions and the blush returns to his ears and he rubs his palms against his linen pants. He doesn’t say anything for a moment before he breathes in deep and looks Riz directly into his eyes.

“I may have had an alterior motive to asking you to this wedding.”

Riz’s lips twitch down as he tries not to catastrophize.

“And what would that alterior motive be, Fabian?” Riz asks, voice careful.

Fabian winces, averting his eyes to the ceiling.

“The alterior motive was to get you to go with me to the wedding.” Fabian says and his voice is shaking just a little bit and _wait, what_?

Riz blinks in confusion.

“What?” He asks, “Fabian, I would have gone with you to the wedding. You didn’t have to, like, try to trick me--”

Fabian shakes his head, still not looking at Riz.

“I wanted you to go with me to the wedding as my date. I just… didn’t know how to ask. I thought, what if we could _pretend_ to be dates, then it’d be almost like the real thing, right? I don’t know what I was thinking, actually, because it was a terrible idea. I can’t--” he sighs and hangs his head, pushing his fingers over his forehead and into his hair. “I can’t _pretend_ to be your… your _date_ , Riz. Not when you look like--” he gestures vaguely towards Riz, his eyes lingering for a moment on the way the jacket hits Riz’s shoulders before moving back towards the ground. “Not when you look like _that_ , my _Gods_ , Riz.”

Riz is dumbfounded. Absolutely gobsmacked. He can’t even pretend to be holding it together because, if he’s reading this correctly, Fabian had been trying to _trick Riz_ into being a _couple_ for the wedding because what he actually wanted was to just _be a couple_.

“Fabian--” Riz starts, still processing but something in his chest pushing him forward and pushing the words out anyway. Fabian holds up his hand and smiles sadly at Riz.

“I know, Riz. You really don’t have to say it. You’ve always been such a kind and loyal friend and you have made it _abundantly_ clear that you do not feel the same. I don’t think I can take hearing it coming from you, though. I think it might hurt too much.”

A laugh rips through Riz and it sounds sharp and disbelieving.

“Why on _Spire_ would you think that I wouldn’t feel the same, Fabian? When have I _ever--_ ”

“The other night, at the party?” Fabian asks, confused but a glimmer of hope shines through his voice. “I tried-- I was trying to kiss you! And you _ran away_ and didn’t talk to me for days!”

Riz feels his mind melt just a little. “You were trying to _kiss me_?” He asks, disbelieving. “I left because you laughed at me and made out with that woman--”

“I have _no idea_ what happened with that, Riz! She was just some random woman who thought she could get attention by making out with the guest of honor. I _literally_ dropped her on the stage right after and left to find you again! I thought you were uncomfortable or upset that I would try--”

Shaking his head furiously, Riz leans towards Fabian, joy pumping through him and intoxicating him. “No! I just-- I was just sad and you… I thought you were-- Fabian I’m _in love with you_ , you fucking asshole!”

A grin breaks over Fabian’s face and he lowers himself onto the couch cushions, half-crawing across them towards Riz.

“I hadn’t seen you in months and I come home and you’re wearing _shorts_ , The Ball. _Shorts and a t-shirt_ and you grew out your--” Fabian reaches up, hand shaking just a little bit, to cautiously touch Riz’s cheek. “You grew out your stubble again. I couldn’t-- I felt like my heart was going to explode with how completely in love I was -- how in love I _am_ with you.”

Riz’s eyes flicker shut as he absorbs the words coming out of Fabian’s mouth, lets them wash over him. He smiles, content and feeling lighter than he had in a very long time. When he opens his eyes again, Fabian is looking at him, his smile mirrored and gentle and the way he’s always smiled at Riz, but now Riz realized that it had always been full of that love.

“I, uh… I’d really like to kiss you now. Since I apparently didn’t get to before.”

Fabian grins and nods and he’s on his knees and places one hand on Riz’s thigh and the other he tucks against Riz’s neck and he’s surrounding Riz in warmth and the gentle glow of the sun soaked into his skin and Riz can _smell_ it on him. Like sea water and sun and wood, Fabian has always smelled this way and Riz realizes that it also smells a lot like home.

Directing Riz up and towards, Fabian leans over him, admiring his face one more time before descending.

Riz wonders if this is what kisses are supposed to feel like.

Before, when Riz has kissed people it’s felt _fine_ . It was fun, it felt kind of nice, it was a precursor to other things that he also thought were just _okay_.

Now, though… now he feels like his nerves are alight. He feels his head swim and his lips tingle and his breath is punched from his chest and yet he doesn’t ever want to part. Fabian fits his body over and against Riz’s and Riz holds onto Fabian’s hips and he doesn’t even feel _small_ right now. He feels expansive and perfect and held and Fabian is _in love with him_.

Fabian kisses like he does everything, practiced and with intention. There’s a performance in it, a twisting of his body and a moan or a slow slip of the lips that feels like he’s showing off, just a little, but Riz doesn’t mind. It’s in Fabian’s nature to perform and right now, he’s performing for _Riz_ and boy does that _do something_ for him.

After a few moments, Fabian parts and rests his forehead against Riz’s, both of them grinning and glowing.

Then, Fabian looks down between them and his eyes widen and his eyebrows jump towards his hairline.

“Oh, fuck,” Fabian says, scrambling off. There’s a sinking in Riz’s stomach as his lap is suddenly cold and empty and his head is still swimming and his face falls. Fabian waves his hands towards Riz before offering one to him to help him up.

“We’re wrinkling your suit,” Fabian says breathlessly and relief floods into Riz’s body as he laughs in disbelief. He looks down, indeed noticing a few creases where there hadn’t been any before.

“Oh, well… I guess I should… change, then.” Riz says, a grin spreading over his face. Fabian steps forward, pulling Riz flush against him and draping his arms over Riz’s shoulders.

“Wouldn’t want to ruin a brand new suit, now would we?” Fabian presses his face against Riz’s forehead to forehead, nose to nose.

Fabian will insist to rehang the suit piece by piece before either of them can touch the bed.

\---

The wedding is, as expected, beautiful. Ragh and Kirek both cry throughout the entire ceremony, as do Kristen and Fig and Gorgug and a large portion of the rest of the guests. Riz sits with Fabian next to him, holding his hand and resting his head against Fabian’s shoulder and he feels more relaxed and full than he’d felt in a very long time.

The reception is a whole other story. As soon as Fig, Ayda, and their touring band start up on their set, a cacophony of cheers and raucous laughter and conversation start up. Some of Ragh and Kirek’s more recognizable friends come and greet the Bad Kids, gushing about the beautiful service and sharing plans of post-wedding celebrations once the reception ended.

Kristen, Gorgug, and Adaine keep glancing at Riz and Fabian with fondness as the two sit casually against one another, arms slung over shoulders and kisses stolen in quiet moments.

The music shifts to something slow and sweet and Fig and Ayda’s melodic voices carry out throughout the room as they begin to sing the love ballad Fig had wrote for the concept album she had lovingly titled _By the Nine Winds_.

Fabian picks himself off of his chair, stretches out his limbs, and offers a hand to Riz.

“May I have this dance?” He asks, teeth flashing cheekily. Riz laughs, taking the hand and following Fabian out onto the dance floor as couples pair up, holding each other close.

They press in together, Fabian’s hands against the small of Riz’s back and Riz clutching Fabian’s arms as he rests his head on Fabian’s chest. They dance together, slow and intentional, for a few moments before Riz lifts his head and gazes up at Fabian.

“I still kind of can’t believe this is real.” He says in an embarrassed breath. Fabian smiles, leaning down to kiss Riz’s forehead. “You and me both, The Ball,” he says, quiet and awed. Riz grins and shakes his head.

“We are real idiots, aren’t we. We missed so much _time--_ ”

“Time is relative, dear,” Fabian says, smile crooked and playful. “I’m just… so relieved to have you now. To fend off the gay Barbarians--”

Riz laughs, body shaking against Fabian, pulling him close. “I do have a gun,” he says when his giggles subside. Fabian nods wisely, his eye twinkling. They laugh together, dance, and when the music picks back up they start to move more erratically around one another, reminding Riz of Kei Lumenarra. The night Fabian had spent dancing and how alluring it had looked and how in the morning, they’d all danced together, not caring who saw.

Riz feels free. He feels light and warm and sun kissed and kissed by a boy who loves him. His friends join them and he loves them and he loves Fabian and he isn’t sure he’s ever felt this full and _calm_ and _loved_. Part of him is saddened by that, but the rest of him is flying, joyful and radiant.

Fabian throws his head back to laugh long and loud before leaning forward and capturing Riz in a long kiss and this is where Riz belongs. Here, with Fabian. Here, with his friends. Here, loved.

**Author's Note:**

> hi thank you for reading!!! please leave a comment or kudo they make me.... so happy... also follow me and send me prompts or just like talk to me on tumblr at niteyorb.tumblr.com
> 
> love u thank you!! <3


End file.
